Friday, February 15, 2013

When a US citizen went to watch a Hindi movie!

I am a foreign tourist, visiting India for the first time and, I am here to share some really interesting event that I witnessed today. Well this was more than an experiment, as I was going by all the hype and hoopla surrounding this , recommended by my friends who had toured the country in the past.

I went to Rajmandir Movie Theater in Jaipur to catch a Bollywood movie. Without subtitles.

The 6.30 pm show looked good to me. We entered the huge dome of the theater at around 6. The interior designing was impressive- the typical Indian floral carvings and chandeliers could be seen hanging from the ceiling while we had a plush flooring of comforting soft-carpet, with plenty of sitting joints arranged all over.

Around 6.25 , the entry to the theater started. I overheard an old German couple inquire some of the Indians the name of the movie.It was Special 26, and the couple had booked tickets, traveled along, and were moments away from entering the hall-without knowing the name of the movie all this while!

Anyways, at around 6.35 , they started showing some movie trailers. They don't have those red-band, green-band standards for trailers here, but they put up the film certification instead. They showed one really funny trailer involving three guys and one girl, all in really colorful outfits and it was funny, I assumed because people were really laughing their pop-corns off. Then came another trailer that , if I am not mistaken, had Irrfan in it. Don't remember the title but I am sure it contained the phrase '...Gangster Returns' in it. Didn't seem like a Gangster movie though.

The movie finally started at around 6.45 pm. The opening credits was unusually long but I think it was not a modern-day plot. I was right- it was a story of the late 80s. Director scores a point here. Next, we move on to a no-nonsense business of sequences, and I missing out on a hell lot many things, like- the DIALOGUES! I felt a pang inside every time there was some one-liner (or so it seemed) and the audience went laughing like madmen. But after the first act I got the basic idea of the movie- some conning act was just pulled off, and the people were not really the ones who they claimed themselves to be. I was beginning to like that semi-bald actor's performance.

Well soon enough, a song sequence came up(Punjabi?!) and a troop of french people started getting up. They were soon followed by that German couple and 10-12 more heads started ant-marching in front of the screen , towards the EXIT. "Leave fast!" somehow I was intrigued on what would happen next in the movie. Director, +2.

With another con-game being pulled off by our protagonists as the real cops started pursuing them. Once again I was at loss of understanding as I felt alienated whenever the audience would whistle and clap after some lines flew. Something needed to be done, I wondered.

Intermission came. I called up one of my friends, John, who had tagged Bollywood movies as 'stress-buster if you really want some time off' and 'wanted to make fun of a group of clowns who would dance , sing , run around , changing costumes in every 3 minutes' . Because he was wrong. This was NOT the Bollywood he must be knowing. The movie I was watching, appeared to be a serious watch and I badly wished I had someone to explain what were some of the ends I was unable to tie. I told John the same.

"I overheard you talking to your friend. I am sorry for that, but I--" I turned around and saw a guy of my age, with his buddies, calling up to me. "I am Vineet. I saw this movie 2 days back, and I don't really need to pay attention to it much. I came here to watch Anupam Kher (the semi-bald guy!) 's performance. I can help you with a blow-by-blow account of the scenes that follow in the second half!"

"You are Godsend, my friend! Thanks a lot! Let's... Let's do this!" I almost screamed with joy. Yeah again, Director,+3.

What followed next was a smooth running of the second half, as I had a great translator by my side, explaining to me each and every single line, the premises of the movie, and by the time it ended with that convincing twist, I had joined the audience with all that laughing, clapping , hooting, and oh boy, was that a good movie!

I am going back and am ordering some titles with Anupam Kher as the lead, and of course , this one particular title, A Wednesday, which Vineet suggested me to watch, by the same director(he said it was his debut movie).
It better be as good as Special 26.